For the third year in a row the Serbian government has banned Belgrade Pride, citing security concerns over threats of violence by neo-Nazi groups who battled hundreds of riot police at Belgrade Pride 2010.

After Prime Minister Ivica Dacic announced the ban on state television, LGBT activists and straight allies of that country marched in unity on his office.

After a long discussion on whether the march would pass without severe consequences, the security assessments indicated severe threats to public safety,” Dacic said after a three-hour meeting with security chiefs. “This is not a capitulation to the hooligans,” he said. But as night fell, around 200 gay activists waving rainbow flags and banners that read “This is Pride” gathered outside Dacic’s government office before walking to parliament flanked by riot police. They chanted “This is Serbia” and “We have pride”. “Tonight we exercised our right to gather peacefully, and I don’t believe we bothered anyone in Serbia,” said Goran Miletic, a human rights activist and the organizer of the gay pride march.

“Not a capitulation to the hooligans,”? Of course it is and to bigotry and hate.

But admiration must go out to our Serbian brothers and sisters for standing up and taking to the streets.

In the real sense of the term they had their Pride March.

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Will Kohler is one of America's well known LGBT historians, He is also a a accredited journalist and the owner of Back2Stonewall.com.
A longtime gay activist Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality.
Will’s work has been referenced in notable media venues as BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Daily Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, and Raw Story,
Mr. Kohler is available for comment, interviews and lectures on LGBT History.
Contact: Will@Back2Stonewall.com